Wednesday, March 28, 2012

HOW AWFUL ABOUT ALLAN - "Wouldn't You Be Better Off Dead?" (1970)

"How Awful About Allan" is not really that exciting of a movie, but it just might be the only thriller with three consecutive 'A' words in the title, and that counts for something, doesn't it? Director Curtis Harrington was the man responsible for bringing us such classics as "Night Tide," "Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet," and "Queen Of Blood," and statement and question titles like "How Awful About Allan," "What's The Matter With Helen?" and "Who Slew Auntie Roo?" before drifting off into a long career in television!

Jeez, for a moment there, I thought that was the "Psycho" house burning!

Basic premise: The family house burns up, and Allan feels responsible for not saving his Father and his sister. His Dad died in the fire, and his sister was horribly disfigured, at least for a TV movie anyway!

8 months later, Allan is scheduled to get out of the mental hospital, and go home, but there's just one problem..........

Allan is kinda welcomed back home by his scarred sister Katherine played by Julie (East Of Eden) Harris! Katherine has all kinds of problems, the least of which is probably her brother!

Allan's fiancee before his big burnout was Joan Hackett as Olive! Joan had the role of Esther Fortune in the "Twilight Zone" episode entitled "A Piano In The House!" Most of Joan's career was on TV, and she left us way too early at the age of 49 back in 1983!

He might not be able to see, but Allan's Spidey senses tell him something is not right! It's hard to believe that Anthony Perkins has been gone since 1992! One of my favourites of his many crazy guys roles was that of the great baseball player Jimmy Piersall who suffered mental problems in "Fear Strikes Out!" Almost a documentary, I always remember the scene where Jimmy's on first, and he picks up sand, and puts it in the first baseman's pocket! The first baseman had no clue on how to react. Jimmy Piersall was a regular Till Eulenspiegel, and Anthony Perkins was cast perfectly for the role!

The music in "How Awful About Allan" isn't anything that special! Allan's tastes ran towards classical not rock or jazz, after all it was a TV movie!

Olive convinces Allan to get out of the house, but when she leaves him alone for a little bit, he freaks out and tries to drive away despite his vision problems! As would be expected, it doesn't work out very well!!

Allan is haunted by dreams and visions of his sister and his overbearing father, or as Tom Smothers would be expected to tell his brother Dick, "Dad always liked you best!"

Here's a great example of the genius of Curtis Harrington, out of the 73 minutes of runtime for "How Awful About Allan," I'm guessing 20 minutes is seen through Allan's blind eyes! Roll camera, shoot anything, it doesn't matter, he's blind, who cares if the boom mike is in the shot?

Allan spends another 15 minutes of so of the movie, hanging out dazed and confused!

Even though he's blind, Allan sees what's going on all around him, that nobody else seems to notice! The truth is that his sister is really a vindictive lying bitch! She was burned, but she had it fixed a long time ago, and wears the fake scar strictly for sympathy!

After the truth is finally told, Allan's vision is returned, and him and Olive get married, and live happily ever after!

Well, almost, after it's all said and done, there's no time for a happy ending here, as there are still more ghosts in the closet, and Allan's vision leaves him once again!

It truly is sad, "How Awful About Allan!" How awful that it was released as "Psycho 2" in Italy! Pass me another Giallo Shot, per favore!

DWRAYGER DUNGEON PRESENTS: The Monster Movie Music Manifesto

Horror, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Spy, Super-Hero, JD, Thriller and Noir films, that's what we like, and a recurring theme in a lot of those kinds of movies has always been music! There were rockin' clubs and cafes with cool jukeboxes, teen poolside parties with local bands, sometimes it was a seedy bar with a sleazy torch singer, a beatnik coffeehouse, maybe dancing somewhere in outer space, or some weird tribal ceremony on a cool secluded island with giant monsters running around, and you could count on it that a lot of the time there was smoking and drinking going on. It was a fun time!! A lot of movies also had quirky, swingin', jazzy or rockin' themes or credits, or maybe just some wild Psychotronic elements! We started with the music from 50's & 60's Monster Movies, but we later morphed into the new, bigger and better, Rock and Soul, 70's brevity, 80's maybes, 1940's Gorilla and Bela site from Hell! So, sit down, and take a load off, pour yourself a cool one, and order up something hot and greasy, because we have a lot of tasty tidbits on the menu, way outside the realm of good taste! If any of the postings just happen to step on anybody's toes, let us know & we will remove them immediately, if not sooner!! We recognize all formal copyrights, and do this solely to support and promote the films featured! This forum is only being presented in a critical and scholarly critique, and should not be construed as anything else. It's just all for Fun & Historical Education in an effort to keep bad taste alive forever!!! If the words and pictures pique your interest, then please go out & buy, or rent the movies, wherever you can find them! All soundclips are approximately two minutes long, just enough to give you a feel for the movie! When we post a sound clip, it will only stay up 30 days or less!

Here are some good places to start your search for hard to find cult films on the internet: